Use of cash is growing – amid concerns businesses are refusing to accept notes and coins
THE use of cash has grown for the second year in a row, amid worries that more businesses are refusing to accept notes and coins.
Cash was used in 19.9 per cent of all UK transactions in 2023 — up from 18.8 per cent the previous year, according to British Retail Consortium figures.
The increase is a shift from a long-running trend of people switching to digital payments and debit cards.
The BRC credited the rise to the cost-of-living crisis — with many people finding it easier to budget their outgoings in physical cash.
The Treasury Select Committee is examining if there should be rules to force businesses to accept cash, amid a rise in the number of outlets that have already switched to contactless only. There are growing concerns they exclude many vulnerable people.
A submission to the inquiry by VISA found that in 2019 over 15 per cent of people with an income under £10,000 a year relied completely on cash to pay for goods and services, compared with less than 2.5 per cent of all higher income groups
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But there are also warnings that cash-only businesses such as nail bars and car washes are fuelling modern slavery and illegal immigration.
Bas Javid, director general of immigration enforcement at the Home Office, said at the weekend some businesses rejected card payments to disguise illegal working.
The Select Committee yesterday heard that physical cash is essential for victims and survivors of economic and domestic abuse.
Deidre Cartwright, of Surviving Economic Abuse, told MPs: “It’s a means for them to escape an abuser — especially when that abuser can track them through a bank account.”
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Concerns have also been raised about a growing number of council car parks that only accept payments made using unreliable phone apps.
Ron Delnevo, of the Payment Choice Alliance, told the hearing: “I know older friends who’ve stopped going to places because they couldn’t park without an app.”
Cash debate
By Dame Meg Hillier
SHOULD there be rules to force certain businesses and services to always accept physical cash?
My committee heard from a carer to a wife with MS, who relies on cash to put money aside for bills.
A supermarket worker told of the difficulty partially sighted customers have paying digitally at checkouts.
Charity Mencap stressed how people with learning disabilities often use cash to guard from card scams.
But corner shops have argued they should make their own decisions, and stress the cost of handling cash.
The previous Government said no to rules for cash. We are yet to hear if this Government feels the same.
NUKE KID ON THE BLOCK
A 500-ton steel reactor was fitted into Britain’s first nuclear power station in 30 years yesterday.
The 42ft reactor pressure vessel was installed at Hinkley Point C in Somerset, which EDF says will generate power for three million homes.
The project, which is due to start generating power in 2029, has been hampered by political wrangling, Covid and supply chain problems.
The delayed start has caused concerns about Britain’s energy security.
EDF and Centrica yesterday said they will keep four ageing nuclear power stations running to ensure there is a low blackout risk.
Chris O’Shea, chief executive of Centrica, said: “Power generation that doesn’t depend on the sun shining and the wind blowing is essential to keeping the lights on.”
B&M SICK AS A DOG
BURBERRY has launched legal action against B&M in a trademark dispute.
B&M had sold “Furberry” branded pet items, including dog bowls, toys, blankets, mats and beds this year.
The items featured a print with red, white and black checks on a beige background, strikingly similar to Burberry’s famous check print.
It says the discount chain was falsely representing its goods as Burberry, Sky News reported.
OZ CALL FOR MINE GIANT RIO
MINING giant Rio Tinto has come under fresh attack from an activist investor pushing it to scrap its main London listing and focus on Australia instead.
Palliser Capital yesterday published an open letter to Rio Tinto’s board arguing the dual-listed structure has been a “failure for shareholders”.
The UK hedge fund, which has a £197million stake in the miner, urged it to follow BHP and drop its dual listing.
The loss of Rio Tinto would be a big blow to the London Stock Exchange and many pension tracker funds would be forced to sell stock if it was no longer in the FTSE 100.
The Exchange is in crisis after facing the worst exodus of firms in 14 years, with 45 companies removed from the market in takeovers, according to Bloomberg.
The value of the UK PLC market is shrinking because there have not been any big listings to replace the losses.
PETROL 'AT PEAK'
BRITAIN has hit “peak petrol” and the number of cars needing to be filled up at the pumps will almost halve over the next decade, says a report.
Auto Trader estimates there were 18.7million petrol cars this year, but that will slump to 11.1million by 2034. It predicts a “seismic shift” towards electric vehicles as they become cheaper, from 1.25million EVs to 13.7million in the next decade.
It expects the share of EVs to rise to 23 per cent next year, below the Government’s eco-mandate of 28 per cent.
Budget gloom
THE services industry has almost ground to a halt since the Budget, with firms hiking prices and freezing hiring and investment to cover costs, a survey found.
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Business confidence has slumped to its lowest in two years, the influential S&P UK services purchasing managers index revealed yesterday.
S&P Global's Tim Moore said: “Worries about the impact of policies in the Budget were widely reported as leading to a gloomier assessment of investment prospects and the broader UK economic outlook.”